The present invention relates generally to radiator mechanisms provided in an electronic apparatus, and more particularly to a heat sink, and a manufacturing method thereof, for dissipating heat derived from exoergic circuit components (or heat-producing components) mounted in the electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatuses according to the present invention include portable electronic apparatuses, such as notebook personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable game machines, and various types of drives; space-saving type electronic apparatuses, such as display-integral type and slim type desktop PCs, and word processors; and non-space-saving type desktop PCs and word processors, and further include image-forming apparatuses, such as printers, facsimile units, and photocopiers. The present invention is suitable, for example, for a radiator mechanism for various types of circuit components mounted on a motherboard in the notebook PC or the like.
The notebook PC is broadly available in the market as a typical portable electronic information terminal. The motherboard (or main board) in the notebook PC is mounted with the circuit components such as a CPU socket, a variety of memory (sockets), a chipset, an expansion slot, and a BIOS ROM, and directly affects performance and functionality of the PC.
The notebook PCs in recent years tend to include an increased number of exoergic components and to generate more calorific values from the various circuit components as the circuit components mounted on the motherboard provide higher speed and higher performance. Therefore, in order to thermally protect the exoergic components and other circuit components mounted directly or via a socket, or the like, on the motherboard, the motherboard is provided with a cooler, called a heat sink.
The heat sink typically includes a cooling (or radiating) fin made up of many high-thermal-conductivity members (fin assembly), and cools exoergic components by spontaneous air cooling. However, the calorific values from exoergic components tend to become too high in recent years to be adjusted by the spontaneous air cooling. Therefore, a fan-cum-heat sink further including a cooling fan has been proposed to enhance a cooling effect of the heat sink. The fan-cum-heat sink provides forced-air cooling to the heat sink utilizing air currents produced by a fan. A conventional fan-cum-heat sink is typically provided above a CPU on the motherboard, as the calorific value from the CPU is the highest among other components.
The fan-cum-heat sink is formed by a die casting process integrally with a cooling fin, a base that forms a bottom surface of the cooling fin to allow heat to conduct from exoergic components to the cooling fin, and a storage portion that accommodates the cooling fan, in order to achieve miniaturization and improved stiffness. Such an integral type heat sink may conduct heat efficiently via a connecting surface (heat-receiving surface) between the exoergic components and the base to the cooling fin, and thus exhibits high thermal exchange performance. Another fan-cum-heat sink has also been proposed that is designed to place the cooling fin and the cooling fan in the same plane (e.g., the cooling fins around the cooling fan). Such a placement is suitable for recent notebook PCs required to be made thin (or low-profile).
However, the conventional integral type fan-cum-heat sinks have limitations on fine adjustments when placed with respect to the exoergic components having various shapes and calorific values, and to placement spaces having various shapes and dimensions. Beyond adjustment are, for example, a large cooling fan that is required for use to enhance cooling efficiency, a cooling fin that is made of copper instead of aluminum or has a differently shaped fin assembly constituting the cooling fin to change cooling efficiency, and a housing having a different shape and dimension to conform to the shape and dimension of exoergic components and placement space. In all the above cases, however, the conventional integral type fan-cum-heat sinks uneconomically need replacement of the whole heat sink. For example, the cooling fan cannot be replaced for a larger one if the cooling fin is located around the cooling fan, and the shape of the housing cannot be altered while the cooling fin and the cooling fan are kept unchanged. Furthermore, in many instances, only the cooling fin in the fan-cum-heat sink made by aluminum die casting cannot be changed into a fin made of copper. This consequently requires different heat sinks to be designed for each electronic apparatus, and also brings about an increase in the costs of the electronic apparatuses.
Similarly, the conventional integral type fan-cum-heat sinks are uneconomical in that the whole heat sink needs replacing even when one of the components is damaged.
Therefore, it is an exemplified general object of the present invention to provide a novel and useful heat sink, a manufacturing method thereof, and electronic apparatus having the heat sink in which the above disadvantages are eliminated.
Another exemplified and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a heat sink, a manufacturing method thereof, and electronic apparatus having the heat sink in which a fine and inexpensive adjustment upon placement and replacement may be made to exoergic components having various shapes and calorific values, and to placements spaces of various shapes and dimensions.
In order to achieve the above objects, a heat sink as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention comprises a housing, and a cooling fin that is separably coupled with the housing, receives heat from an exoergic part, and dissipates heat from the exoergic part. Alternatively, the heat sink comprises a housing, and a base portion separably coupled with the housing, and including an heat-receiving surface that receives heat from an exoergic part, and a cooling fin that is formed on the back of the heat-receiving surface, and dissipates heat from the exoergic part. Further, the cooling fin is removable from the base portion. This heat sink has the housing and the cooling fin separable, and thus the housing or the cooling fin may be easily replaced separately. Furthermore, since the cooling fin and the base portion are separable from each other, each element may be easily replaced alone. The term xe2x80x98replacexe2x80x99 as used herein includes operations carried out not only when a damaged housing or cooling fin is to be changed, but also when a material or shape thereof is to be changed (e.g., the material of the cooling fin is changed from aluminum to copper, the shape of a fin assembly constituting the cooling fin is changed, or the like).
The above heat sink may further comprise a cooling fan that cools the cooling fin, and is connected with the housing, whereas the cooling fan and the cooling fin may be disposed in the same plane. In that event, the heat sink (fan-cum-heat sink) may have an enhanced cooling capability, and dispose the cooling fin and the cooling fan in the same plane, thereby contributing to a slimmed body of the heat sink itself.
A housing as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention characteristically includes a storage portion that separably accommodates a cooling fin that dissipates heat from an exoergic part in order to dissipate heat. This housing is formed in isolation from the cooling fin, and may thus be designed arbitrarily according to the size and shape of the placement space in the electronic apparatus, and the housing and the cooling fin may be independently developed.
The above housing may further accommodate in the storage portion a cooling fan that cools the cooling fin, and may dispose the cooling fan and the cooling fin in the same plane. In that event, the housing disposes the cooling fin and the cooling fan in the same plane, thereby contributing to a slimmed body of the housing itself.
A cooling fin as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention comprises a fin assembly including a plurality of fins that dissipate heat from an exoergic part, a connection portion that connectes the fin assembly with a housing including a storage portion, the storage portion separably accommodating the fin assembly. This cooling fin is formed in isolation from the housing, and may thus be designed arbitrarily according to the size and shape of the exoergic part, or the size and shape of the placement space, or the like, and the housing and the cooling fin may be independently developed. Moreover, the cooling fin may further include a base portion that forms a heat-receiving surface.
A method of manufacturing a heat sink as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of forming a housing, forming a base portion that includes a cooling fin, and is separably coupled with the housing, and separably connecting the housing and the base portion with each other. This manufacturing method separately manufactures the housing and the base portion independently, and combines them, and thus if each element has plural kinds different in size, shape, and material, may be selected arbitrarily among them, whereby heat sinks having different cooling capabilities may be manufactured. The above step of forming the base portion may employ a forging or stamping process to form the cooling fin. These processes may form an accurate and hard base portion.
The above method of manufacturing a heat sink may further comprise the step of mounting a cooling fan in the housing, and in this step, the cooling fan and the cooling fin may be disposed in the same plane. In that event, the heat sink disposes the cooling fin and the cooling fan in the same plane, thereby contributing to a slimmed body of the heat sink itself.
An electronic apparatus as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention comprises a printed board on which an exoergic part is mounted, and a heat sink that is provided on the printed board, and cools the exoergic part, and the heat sink characteristically comprises a housing, and a cooling fin that is separably coupled with the housing, receives heat form the exoergic part, and dissipates heat from the exoergic part. Moreover, the electronic apparatus may further comprise a cooling fan that cools the cooling fin, and is connected with the housing, whereas the cooling fan and the cooling fin may be disposed in the same plane. This electronic apparatus includes the above-described heat sink, and thus each element may easily be replaced alone, whereby requirements for a fine and inexpensive adjustment to requirements of N the electronic apparatus may be satisfied.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to accompanying drawings.